Cif

Laura Hollander capped a stellar career at Marina High Saturday by finishing in third-place in the girls' 3,200 meter run at the 2012 CIF State Track and Field Championships Saturday at Buchanan High in Clovis. The senior showed her tenacity and fortitude by overcoming being tripped at around the 100-meters mark at the outset of the race, Marina distance coach David Sanford said. Hollander got back into the competition and worked her way into second-place, behind eventual winner, sophomore Sara Baxter of Simi Valley.

A trio of local athletes have earned their way to the CIF State Track and Field Championships. Laura Hollander and Kylie Nishisaka of Marina, and Karen Snapper of Edison, will all be at Buchanan High in Clovis on Friday for the preliminary round of the State meet. The finals are Saturday. Hollander qualified in the girls' 3,200 meters run, finishing in 10 minutes, 17.2 seconds, and placed second behind sophomore Sara Baxter of Simi Valley, who won the evesnt in 10:08.71. Both easily cruised past the State qualifying time of 10:42.57.

Down to potentially the last out of the game, and its season Tuesday, the Edison softball team showed its character by putting together a final rally that created some anxious moments for Santiago of Corona in the semifinal round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 softball playoffs. Trailing by five runs, the sixth-ranked Chargers used back-to-back home runs to pull within two, but had their spirited comeback fall short on an outstanding catch in center field that ended the game.

The Marina and Huntington Beach high baseball teams had a few opportunities to put runs on the scoreboard in their second-round CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoff games, but neither could capitalize and saw their seasons come to an end. In a pair of matchups pitting Sunset League teams against two from the Century League, Marina fell, 2-0, to visiting Esperanza, while Huntington lost, 6-1, at El Dorado. Marina's season was on the line heading into the bottom of the seventh inning against Esperanza, but the Vikings had immediate hope as they loaded the bases with one out. The Vikings, however, could not push a run across and the victory by the seventh-ranked Aztecs, champions of the Century League, sent them to Friday's quarterfinal game against Mater Dei. "I thought we might do it there, at the end," Marina Coach Bob Marshall said.

Win big and move on. That's exactly what the Edison High softball team did Tuesday in Anaheim. The sixth-ranked Chargers (25-4) earned a date in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinals by blitzing host Canyon of Anaheim, 13-0, in a second-round game. They did it by racking up 19 hits and advanced to play at 3:15 p.m. Thursday at third-ranked Orange Lutheran. Junior Sammy Cordova (24-4) threw a two-hitter, senior Mercedes O'Connor went four for five, and senior Casey Africano and junior Carissa Sherman both went three for four.

Marina's season was on the line heading into the bottom of the seventh inning of Tuesday's CIF Southern Section Division 1 baseball playoff game, the Vikings two runs down to Esperanza. But there was immediate hope as they loaded the bases with just one out. The Vikings, however, could not push a run across and ended up with a 2-0 loss to the Aztecs. "I thought we might do it there, at the end," Marina Coach Bob Marshall said. Marina did look as though it would climb back into the game after sophomore Austin Sokja hit a lead-off single and junior Jake Bauers drew a walk, to start the bottom of the seventh.

The Marina High girls' track and field team came up with the highest finish in the program's history by placing fifth in Division 1 at the CIF Southern Section Track and Field Championships on Saturday Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. Senior Laura Hollander won her first individual CIF title by winning the Division 1 girls' 3,200 meters (10 minutes, 27.51). Hollander nearly took another event and finished second in the girls' 1,600 (4:50.12). Hollander, who signed with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, is the Marina record-holder in both the girls' 1,600 and 3,200 events, Vikings distance coach David Sanford said.

Four local prep baseball teams had the daunting task of playing first-round CIF Southern Section playoff games on the road Friday, each traveling to different pockets of the Southland. Edison, Huntington Beach, Marina and Ocean View all played well in their first-round games, but only Huntington and Marina returned home with victories. Huntington traveled to face Moore League champion Long Beach Poly and the Oilers, an at-large entry from the Sunset League, pulled out a 2-1 win over the fourth-ranked Jackrabbits in a Division 1 game.

HUNTINGTON BEACH — It took a few days for the Ocean View softball team to put a tough setback in the past late last week. On Thursday, the Seahawks looked like a rejuvenated team. Ocean View started the CIF Southern Section Division 4 softball playoffs at home Thursday and owned Northview of Covina from the start. The Seahawks jumped on the Vikings early and often and rode a quick start to a 7-0 victory. The win advances the Seahawks (17-9) to a second-round game Tuesday when they will face Freeway League champion La Habra.

Timmy Lopes started things for Edison on Tuesday, then polished things off. Lopes, a senior, opened the scoring and took to the mound in the late stages of Edison's CIF Southern Section Division 1 wild-card baseball game against Chaparral, and his book-end performances capped a 2-0 victory for the host Chargers. Edison wasn't the only local school to win by shutout Tuesday. Huntington Beach went to Temecula for a wild-card game and returned home with an impressive 7-0 shutout of host Great Oak. Lopes hit a first-inning home run and later came on in relief of starting pitcher Tyler Jones to close out the final 1 2/3 innings.